Spatial Design

Working in the field of spatial design involves both leveraging existing knowledge to identify and respond to societal needs while simultaneously pushing boundaries, challenging existing structures and generating new knowledge. This necessitates a balance between the appreciation of historical knowledge and the maintanence of openness and curiosity. This year’s degree projects from Spatial Design showcase a strong interest in social and material histories, delving into a broad spectrum of scales and phenomena.

Much of the work departs from specific sites and buildings. A thermal power station becomes a community garden, a modernist theatre is revitalised through local craft, and an industrial ruin is opened to human and non-human visitors. We see a strong engagement with the public interior and their atmospheres, and students are rethinking the everyday spaces of malls, gynaecology clinics, restaurants and rooms for resting. The urban landscape is a site for interventions; a central square in Belgrade is reenacted through design activism, a dark pedestrian underpass in southern Stockholm becomes a site for the investigation of water, reflections and time, debris from demolition sites is recontextualised as spatial elements. Through iterative processes, students are challenging the norms of eating, designing cross-cultural meeting places, and exploring the presence of anti-time in everyday objects. Craft is often intrinsic in the work and students are embracing everything from traditional Japanese lacquer techniques, to the art of joinery in wooden chairs and explorations of the wedge as a design tool.

Across the class, there is an interest in the interaction between bodies, materialities and environments, demonstrating how the evolution of our built environment shapes our present experiences and highlights strategies in spatial design that promise to transform our future spaces.

Tor Lindstrand
Head of the master’s programme in Spatial Design

Einar Rodhe
Senior Lecturer, Interior Architecture and Furniture Design